title: Play and video effects on mood and procedure behaviors in school-aged children visiting the pediatrician.
abstract: This study examines how different types of activities, including medical play, typical play, and videos, affect the mood and behaviors of children visiting a pediatric office. Seventy-two school-aged children visiting a pediatrician's office were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups: medical play, medical information video, typical play, and nonmedical information video control. Children completed a mood self-report measure and their behaviors were recorded during triage by nurses. The medical information video improved the school-aged children's mood. Children in the medical information video displayed less difficult behaviors during procedures than the medical play group. The findings suggest that providing information about medical equipment through a video of a child engaging in medical play may benefit children visiting the pediatrician.
authors.affiliation: 1University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Sherwood
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Burns-Nader
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hernandez-Reif
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Thoma
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D034441:Heterogeneous-Nuclear Ribonucleoproteins; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000379:methods*; D010988:Play and Playthings; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011897:Random Allocation; D014743:Videotape Recording
chemical_list: D034441:Heterogeneous-Nuclear Ribonucleoproteins
keywords: children; mood; pediatrician; play; videos